Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails review

December is the perfect month for glittery nails. With the many parties and candlelit dinner parties, the nails finally get their chance to shine, quite literally. :)

In my 6th Gmarket order, I bought two of the Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails sets: the #3 Love Violet and the #4 Mint Frappe. Because I already have glitter nail polishes in pink, silver, and gold (from Etude House nonetheless), these two sets grabbed my attention the most. The second nail polish of the green set, the one in the middle, seemed very intriguing in the promotion pictures. It looks very similar to mermaid shimmers. The purple nail polish set looked also very special, since this is one of the few sets that did not have coarse glitters as the last step. All these nail polish sets have the theme of cocktail drinks: they are to recreate the same interesting gradation in colors on your nails, like those in bright and colorful cocktails. Read on to find out if they succeeded in this.

Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set

#3 Love Violet review

Let's first start with the Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set #3 Love Violet. The nail polish set contains three little rectangular bottles of nail polish with number 1,2, and 3 on top to make it easy for you to determine which nail polish to apply in each step. The first step in this nail polish set is applying a very light lavender nail polish as the base. It does not really do much for my nails, I can barely notice it on the nails. It just adds a somewhat milky shine to the nails like a base coat nail polish. Again, this is a case of the nail polish looking darker in the bottle than on the nails.

Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set #3 Love Violet step 1

For the second step, you apply nail polish number 2 on two-thirds of the nail. The nail polish for step 2 is really amazing. It is purple jelly nail polish with large and fine holographic glitter. The purple looks very natural on the nails, but the color is still quite visibly there. The glitter makes it very extraordinary. It is quite possible to wear this nail polish on its own.You can really see that I like this nail polish a lot, since I included not one, but three pictures of this nail polish in different angles and lighting.

Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set #3 Love Violet step 2

Step three is applying the nail polish number 3 on the tips of the nails ( about 1/3 of the nail). This nail polish is really special, since it really gives off a stained effect. It almost looks like I dipped my fingers in a jar of purple ink. Besides this, it also has multicolor glitter. The end result is very stunning. I can already imagine myself holding a cocktail glass, while wearing a stunning purple night gown.
However, the last nail polish dries up a bit gloopy, so be careful with the nails until you are sure that they are dry. You can also use a quick-drying nail spray or base-coat.

Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set #3 Love Violet step 3

Etude House Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set

#4 Mint Frappe review

Now let's see how the Juicy Cocktail gradation nails set #4 Mint Frappe fares. The first step is a pale mint green, again not really opaque or green on the nails. It does have a pearly shimmer, which is different from step 1 of the Love Violet set.

Step 2 is as pretty as I have imagined it to be. The nail polish is a bit greener in real life than in the pictures. It is a shimmery pale mint green with holographic glitters. The glitters really looks like the scales on a fish, or on a mermaid if you prefer. Step 3 is applying the large green hexagonal glitters on the tips of the nails. I really like this nail polish set, but I feel that the overall color is a bit too "cold". I think using a pale, but warm pink as base coat would make it look nicer.